Last week, the Glaswegian was named as her country’s new poet laureate. Fans point to her rare combination of literary merit with great accessibility, making her a popular choice to reframe Scottishness

The formidable writer is again embroiled in a protest over her views – but she’s never been a stranger to controversy and there’s no doubting that she has brought zest and vigour to our intellectual lives

Profile: For the Cloud Atlas novelist, famed for playing with form, writing a short story on Twitter is just his latest challenge. But this is only the prelude to the big event, his eagerly awaited new novel

He's a veteran journalist whose new book on the Clintons sits atop the bestseller list, but Klein again stands accused of fabrication. Friends and former colleagues tell
Jon Swaine about the man behind the controversy

The books interview: The Nigerian-American writer tells
Emma Brockes that discovering that his experimental instinct hasn’t condemned him to writing for obscure publishers makes him feel like he’s won the lottery

Profile: At 82, the great spy novelist still exerts a grip on our imagination, with a film and biography both on the way. But are we any nearer to really knowing the confused son of a confidence trickster?

Profile: Already a sensation at home, the author of a brutally honest autobiography is set to become an international literary superstar. But the candour of Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle has shocked many – and alienated half of his family

Profile: After years of exploring Sweden's darkest fears in his fiction, the creator of Wallander faces his own anxiety after being diagnosed with cancer. He will now chart his illness in a newspaper column

Profile: Her tough prescription for 'Chinese' child rearing made for a controversial bestseller. She looks set to repeat the trick in a new book that seeks to explain why some 'cultural groups' are far more powerful than others

Profile: A cult was born with her celebrated debut, The Secret History. Yet 20 years on, she is still a highly elusive creature – we know very little about her private life. Now, after a decade's silence, her third novel, The Goldfinch, is already being greeted with awe

Profile: The controversial columnist, who has moved inexorably over the years from left to right, has now launched her own publishing empire 'to make a better world'. Will readers, including her fans in the US, buy into her vision?

Profile: The author, who won the Orange prize for We Need to Talk About Kevin, is noted for her honesty. But her new novel, inspired by the obesity that killed a sibling, is her most courageous book yet

Profile: The Missouri-born novelist's thriller Gone Girl is not only a phenomenon – millions of sales, a Hollywood movie – but is also tipped by many to win the Women's Prize for Fiction. Small-town America has found a chilling new storyteller